Mace winced. “Sorry.” He leaned over and grabbed her foot, pulling it up so he could take a look at her big toe. “How’s it feeling?”
“So far so good.” She put a hand on Mace’s arm. “I’m going to walk around the island to the north and see if I can make my way to the other side…”
“Over my dead body,” Mace interrupted.
“Mace, listen to me. I’ll be careful. I’ll stay in the shallows and if the footing gets bad or if the water gets too deep, I swear I’ll turn back. We need to know if they’re coming back, and I can’t get through the woods. You wait here and look south—that way you’ll see them if they come around the tip of the island.”
“I don’t like it. What if you fall or sprain something or break something? It’s a bad idea, Maggie. I say we stay together. I’ll come with you.”
“No, that won’t work. What if they come around the southern tip of the island? They won’t have any idea we’re here.” She tried to make her smile reassuring. “Mace, I’ll be fine. I’m not afraid and I’m not going very far.” She jumped off the rock and slid down the bank into the shallows before he could stop her.
“I don’t like it,” he called after her. “You’re doing this against my better judgment.”
Maggie laughed. “It’s not a matter of life and death,” she called back.
“Yet.” Mace pointed at his wristwatch. “The day is still young.”
“If I’m not back in an hour, you can search for me.” Maggie rolled her pants up to her thighs and stepped into the water.
Not bad, pretty shallow, a little slick but doable
. After fifty yards, she glanced back at Mace. Instead of looking south, he stared at her, the concern on his face visible even at this distance. She waved and continued along the shoreline, taking great care to place her sandal-covered feet on flat rocks in water no higher than her knees, not an easy task. Her progress was slow.
At least there’s no wind on this side and if I stay close to shore, I don’t have to fight the waves
.
I can’t believe those jackasses left us to fend for ourselves. We have…what? Two quarts of water, a single-burner stove but no pots, one sleeping bag, one sleeping pad, a tarp, and our clothes. That’s it. Not a single scrap of food. Yeah, we can stay here one night, but we have to get the hell out of here tomorrow morning or we’re screwed. We are so screwed.
* * * *
Maggie vanished around the northern edge of the island. The woman had a stubborn streak a mile wide. She could get herself killed.
Robert and Patty have to be the two most idiotic, inconsiderate, wrong-headed, incompetent, dangerous, stupid people I have ever met in my entire life. They’ve put us in an untenable position and if Maggie gets hurt, I swear…
Mace knew he had to do something before he grew so angry he couldn’t function. Keeping one eye on the southern tip of the island, he rummaged through their gear. They didn’t have much, a pack of matches in his jacket pocket, two quarts of water, a single-burner stove, one sleeping bag, one sleeping pad, and a tarp. Other than those few items, they had their clothes. He searched Maggie’s backpack. She had plenty of extra clothes along with her birth control pills and a bottle of migraine tablets. She’d zipped those securely into a waterproof plastic bag.
Smart girl. I imagine those are the two things she doesn’t want to lose
.
He re-packed everything and wandered along the shore in the direction Maggie had gone. He couldn’t go far without wading into the water. The forest was too thick. There was no sign of her and there was no sign of Robert and Patty. He could tell from the wave action along the southern shore that the wind had picked up even more. The clouds were building in the west and the temperature was dropping. Mace glanced at his watch. She’d been gone thirty minutes.
Look, she won’t do anything risky. Be patient. It’ll probably take her forty, forty-five minutes to get there and come back.
He glanced south. The expanse of open water was whitecaps and chop, stretching all the way to the channel Maggie had shown him.
We can’t get out of here today. There’s no way in hell we can paddle through this shit
.
I could wring Robert’s scrawny neck for putting us in danger. Thank God Maggie keeps cool in a crisis
.
Mace thought back to the incident on the flight.
Yeah, that’s Maggie, a tigress in my arms, but calm when things fall apart.
Mace felt the corners of his mouth turn up. Despite the circumstances, he couldn’t help but smile.
Yeah, she’s a tigress, all right. I’d like her in my arms again
… His thoughts were interrupted by an icy stinging sensation on his cheek.
What the hell?
Another ice pellet hit his cheek, and then another. It was sleet, goddamn it, sleet.
Great, just great
.
What else can go wrong?
He needed to set up a shelter, fast, and then find Maggie and get her back here as quick as he could. Mace returned to the downed tree where they’d stowed the gear. Working efficiently, he pulled out the plastic tarp and opened it up, tying each end to a tree, forming a makeshift tent. Using Maggie’s Swiss Army knife, he sawed branches from some of the smaller white pines, spreading them over the cold, damp ground to make a dry bed. Opening his pack, he pulled out a pair of sweats and some old T-shirts, covering the pine needles with clothing. One narrow sleeping pad for the two of them was not going to do the trick. After tossing the single sleeping bag beneath the tarp and checking to make certain it would stay dry, he rolled up his pants and slid down the bank into the shallows, determined to reach Maggie before something worse happened.
* * * *
The shallows weren’t as shallow as Maggie expected them to be, and the footing was slick and uneven, far more uneven on the north shore than it had been along the east shore where she’d started out. It was beginning to look like she’d bitten off more than she could chew, but if she could manage another two hundred yards or so, she’d have a view of the open water to the west.
Does it really matter if I spot Robert and Patty? Do I care? Well, yeah, I guess, I care a lot…they have the food pack. Idiots, complete and total idiots. The first rule of wilderness? Stay together. The second rule? Make certain every canoe carries provisions in case the people who carry the provisions are fucking ignoramuses. I knew I shouldn’t have gone on this trip. I had a bad feeling about it from the moment Lynn brought it up, and that bad feeling had nothing whatsoever to do with Mace. I should have stuck by my guns and said no.
She and Lynn had argued this morning. Maggie had wanted to back out of the canoe trip, to stay at the cabin, or better yet, ask Jeff to haul her back to the marina. But for god only knows what reason, Lynn had insisted she go on this trip. She’d begged and pleaded, saying in a tearful voice that she and Jeff needed time alone, that there were issues they had to work out. She claimed she’d want Maggie by her side at the end of the week, yet she refused to give her any details, a sure way to keep Maggie in limbo. She wasn’t satisfied until Maggie agreed to go.
Well, she hooked me all right
.
I wonder if Lynn is pregnant. She wouldn’t be the first woman to have to rush her wedding. As if getting in an automobile accident and breaking an ankle isn’t bad enough…or maybe she’s just playing me, because she knows I’ll do anything for her…
Maggie slipped on a slimy rock and fell face first into the chilly lake. She struggled to get her feet underneath her. Finally balancing on her hands and knees, she stood up, soaked to the skin. “Damn it!” She shook the water from her hair. “That’ll teach you. Pay attention,” she muttered.
Moving forward toward the far side of the island, Maggie suddenly stopped.
Mace was right, this is a stupid idea.
As she turned around, a strong gust of wind hit her, knocking her back down into the water. This time she scrambled to her feet quickly. “Ow!” Something stung the exposed skin on the back of her neck.
What now?
She turned to look, facing a wall of approaching sleet.
“Oh fuck!” Maggie wanted to make a run for it, but there was no way she could move fast, the footing was too bad. Churned by the wind, the previously clear water had grown so cloudy she could barely see her feet. She scouted the shoreline as she slogged through the shallows, hoping to find a break in the steep rocks so she could take shelter under the trees. There was nothing, at least nothing nearby. Her best bet was to push on and make it to the lee side of the island, back to Mace.
* * * *
Mace turned the corner, leaving the sheltered side of the island, and the wind hit him full force. Carried by the strong gusts, sleet tore at his face, arms, and hands. Mace pulled his baseball cap lower and peered out from beneath the brim.
There she is
. Maggie stumbled in his direction, soaked to the skin. As he closed the gap between them, a blast of wind drove her to her knees.
Shit
. He had to reach her before she was injured or worse.
“Maggie!” he yelled her name into the wind. He could tell she didn’t hear him, and she had yet to look up. He cupped his mouth with both hands. “Maggie, I’m coming.”
She lifted her head and their eyes met. She struggled to her feet and began moving toward him again. Fifty yards separated them. Mace moved faster. Twenty yards…ten…and then she was in his arms, breathless, pale, her skin cold as ice to his touch. She clutched his bare forearms with frozen fingers. Her teeth chattered. “Mace…I’m not…I’m not thinking clearly. I need to get out of here, out of this…”
“I know, Maggie.” He turned, bringing her with him. He shoved her in front of him, sheltering her with his body. “You’re hypothermic. C’mon, we have to get back to the other side of the island.”
“I’m…I’m sorry. I don’t know how much farther I can walk.”
Mace wrapped a rock-solid arm around her waist, stabilizing her in the waves. “You can make it. You will make it. I’m with you now, and I won’t let you fall. Ten minutes, Maggie, hang in here with me for ten minutes and we’ll be out of the worst of it, I swear. You can count on me.”
“I was stupid to try this,” she mumbled.
“No, you weren’t stupid. You were brave, very brave.” He propelled her forward. “Let’s get moving. We can talk about
stupid
later, and believe me, it’s not you.”
Even though they made steady progress, it seemed to Mace as if it took hours to get Maggie out of those gale-force winds. She gamely tried to stay on her feet, but he could tell she was fading fast. He had to get her warm and dry and it had to be as soon as possible. Unfortunately, possible was two hundred yards farther down the shoreline.
“Stay with me, Maggie.” Mace urged her forward. “Stay with me, baby. Almost there.” By the time they reached the beach, she could barely move. He dragged her up the bank, half carrying her, and hauled her through the falling sleet and rain to the shelter he’d set up. Jesus, she looked half-dead. Her eyes mere slits, she watched him with a blank expression.
Mace ripped the sleeping bag from its stuff sack and unrolled it, spreading it out so they could both fit inside. Without hesitation he stripped Maggie’s soaked clothing from her wet, limp body. Using his sweats, he dried her as quickly as he could. After removing his own clothes, he wrapped them both in the sleeping bag. He pressed her against his chest, stretching himself out full-length against her, warming her with his naked body. His own back was exposed to the elements, but Mace barely noticed. Returning Maggie’s body temperature to normal was his only concern. If he didn’t warm her fast, she would die.
Mace slid one arm beneath Maggie, anchoring her to him, holding her as close as possible. He rubbed his other hand along her arm, trying to create some friction and generate more heat. At least the tarp protected them from the wind, rain, and sleet. It stayed dry beneath the makeshift tent, and the pine branches he’d laid down kept the cold from seeping up from the ground.
“C’mon, baby, wake up.” He ran his lips along her cheek. Her skin still felt icy cold. He needed to reach her. “Maggie, get that sweet ass of yours back here so I can fuck you again.”
That got a rise out of her. She stirred against him and mumbled something.
“What was that, baby? Hmmm? Talk to me, Maggie, c’mon girl. Give me a good smack upside the head. I’ll enjoy the hell out of it.”
“I said,” she whispered, “that if you think saving my life means you can fuck me up the ass any time you want, you’ve got another…” Her voice drifted off.
“Uh-uh, Maggie, get back here. I’ve got another what? What do I have coming to me?” He gave her a little shake. He couldn’t help the fact that he had an erection, a big, throbbing, painful erection. She was naked; he was naked, so despite the awful circumstances, he had an erection. He pressed himself against her belly, rubbing himself up and down her damp skin. “Wake up, Maggie, before I use this, before I take advantage of you in your weakened state.”